They ¹  also asked them, “What are the names of the men who are building this edifice?”

We also inquired of their names in order to inform you, so that we might write the names of the men who were their leaders.

The governor ¹  instructed them not to eat any of the sacred food until there was a priest who could consult ²  the Urim and Thummim.

We inquired of those elders, asking them, ‘Who gave you the authority to rebuild this temple and to complete this structure?’

and I weighed out to them the silver, the gold, and the vessels intended for the temple of our God – items that the king, his advisers, his officials, and all Israel who were present had contributed.

Indeed, they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race ¹  has become intermingled with the local residents. Worse still, the leaders and the officials have been at the forefront of all of this!”

they came to Zerubbabel and the leaders ¹  and said to them, “Let us help you build, ²  for like you we seek your God and we have been sacrificing to him ³  from the time ⁴  of King Esarhaddon ⁵  of Assyria, who brought us here.” ⁶ 

But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the leaders of Israel said to them, “You have no right ¹  to help us build the temple of our God. We will build it by ourselves for the Lord God of Israel, just as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, has commanded us.”

At that time Tattenai governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar-Bozenai, and their colleagues came to them and asked, “Who gave you authority ¹  to rebuild this temple and to complete this structure?” ² 

Whatever is needed – whether oxen or rams or lambs or burnt offerings for the God of heaven or wheat or salt or wine or oil, as required by ¹  the priests who are in Jerusalem – must be given to them daily without any neglect,